In The News The Irish Times

With a landslide victory for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party predicted, the UK general election looks to be all over bar the shouting.
But then this week the shoutiest voice in British politics, Nigel Farage, announced he is to run for Reform UK.
Mark Paul explains why that’s more bad news for the Tories – and a jolt of excitement in what has been a dull run up to the July 4th election.
Also on Tuesday, Rishi Sunak was judged to have won the first televised leaders debate. The Irish Times London correspondent was in “the spin room” afterwards – upstairs in the Coronation Street visitors’ centre – with party advisers, media and politicians, and he says the Sunak side took the (slight) win as a glimmer of hope.
But why, when he’s so far behind?
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Have you ever shared a photo of your child wearing her Halloween costume on Instagram? Or, perhaps you’ve uploaded a video of your nephew dancing to TikTok. We live in a world where sharing images of our lives, and in turn the lives of our children, has become completely normalised. But there are serious safety risks and privacy concerns around this type of content. Deepfakes using a child's image and / or voice, identity theft and abusive material are just some of the frightening ways in which young people are at risk when their data is shared, either on an open forum or a messaging app. Leah Plunkett, author of ‘Sharenthood’ and faculty at Harvard law school, explains the pitfalls of sharing images of kids online, the ethical quandary we may unwittingly find ourselves in and how we can protect the young people in our lives.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.


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On Friday 7th June, the country will go to the polls to decide who should represent us at a local and European level. Voters will elect 14 MEPs to the European Parliament and 949 councillors to 31 local authorities.
 
While it’s easier to feel the tangible changes that are made by city and county councillors, it’s perhaps harder to get a handle on what exactly our MEPs do for us. 
 
So what is the role of the MEP and can they make any difference at a European level?
And how did our outgoing MEPs fare over the last five years?
Jack Power reports from Brussels.
Presented by Aideen Finnegan, produced by Suzanne Brennan. 


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This week, father and daughter Tom and Molly Martens will be released from prison after serving just over six months for killing Jason Corbett in 2015. The pair were sentenced last November, following their guilty plea of involuntary manslaughter.  
Following the sentencing hearing last year, documentary maker and journalist Brian Carroll spoke to In the News, about the Marten’s case and the Corbett family’s long fight for justice.  
 
This is the first of a two-part episode on the case, originally published in November 2023. In the first part, Caroll explains how the Marten’s used the sentencing hearing to completely annihilate Jason’s Corbett’s character. 
In episode two, available here, we hear how the Limerick man’s family, including his two children, finally had their day in court to tell the world about their loving father and what their lives were like with their manipulative stepmother. 
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.


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A plan to reintroduce National Service in Britain has been roundly criticised by former military personnel and opposition parties alike. But serving your country militarily is an accepted part of life in many countries like Finland, Sweden and Israel. Security analyst, Declan Power, explains how people in Scandinavia are predisposed to the idea because it's woven into their life in the same way Gaelic games, our literary history and the 1916 Rising are in this country. The former Irish solder also explains how the same concept wouldn't fly in Ireland and what we need to do instead to beef up our Defence Forces. Power also posits how the military offensive in Gaza may well turn out to expose the flaws in Israel's national service model.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

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Young adolescents have “greater peer problems” and fewer friends than their counterparts a decade ago, with girls especially experiencing “increased emotional difficulties”, according to a new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
The study looks at changes in 13-year-olds’ relationships with their parents and peers, in their day-to-day activities and in their experiences of school. 
 
Irish Times Social affairs Correspondent Kitty Holland joins us today to talk through some of the reports findings.

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